I am sharing this fun tutorial for “Cat Coasters” over on the Sizzix blog today. This is a fun project to use up charm squares or other scraps of fabric you have laying around. Of course you can always change the appliqué to something that reflects you if you are not a crazy cat lady like I am 🙂

I used the cat head from the “cat die”. I also used some of my Heat n Bond Lite scraps I had laying around. I love scrap buster projects!

Much of my life is not magazine -cover picture perfect. Life is real, my house is messy and I run behind. I have tried to keep my blog posts authentic to who I am and what I’m doing. I don’t create for the sake of posting on IG or blogging about it. Every product or fabric I share is something I truly love. This summer I have been involved in several major youth activities: a Pioneer Trek Reenactment and a Young Women Camp for girls age 12-18. Both these experiences were amazing. I want to share a few projects I made for these activities using my Sizzix Fabi. It’s my go to creative device, especially when I am in a hurry!

The night before I left for the Pioneer Trek I decided I need to add a little something to this plain muslin cross-body satchel. I used the Sizzix Large Dresden plate and the 4″ circle. I put Heat n Bond Ultra on the back of each fabric before die-cutting since I wouldn’t be able to sew the appliqué pieces.

Here we are in our authentic Pioneer attire. I took this bag everywhere!!!

For our Young Women Camp I like to have the leaders wear matching shirts – it really makes it easy to find us! Our theme Anchored in Christ and everything we did had a nautical reference to it. This fish die is one of my favorites! I used some fun Riley Blake Designs Prints and Heat n Bond Feather Lite.

I decided to only use 3 fish instead of 4. You have to be careful on placement 🙂

I had so much fun sewing my Fish Bubbles Pillow that I wanted to make more Fish Bubbles projects! Have you seen the toweling by the yard? It is amazing! It is hemmed on both edges and it comes in a variety of colors and patterns. I thought it would be fun to make an apron with it and a table runner. Here’s how you can make one.

Cut the toweling to 1.5 yards.Hem the cut sides of the toweling by turing under 1/2″ and again 1/2″ and sewing close to the fold.

Choose some fun fabrics and iron the Heat n Bond to the wrong side of the fabric. Heat n Bond Lite is a great light weight fusible appliqué but is best if you sew around it to secure. Heat n Bond
Ultra requires no sewing. I used Heat n Bond Ultra for this. Once you have fused the appliqué medium to the wrong side of the fabric, run it through the Sizzix Fabi.

I appliquéd 4 fish and 5 bubbles.

Now all you have to do is make the apron waist band. Cut (3) 5″ x WOF strips from the waist band fabric. From one of those pieces cut it down to 24″ x 5″ The two long pieces will be the ties and the 24″ piece will be the waist band.

Fold the ties in half lengthwise and sew, leaving one end open, and angling the other end to form a point like this: Turn right side out, press, and top stitch along both sides 1/8″ from the edge.

Cut the top hem of the toweling off to reduce bulk while gathering (I tried it with the hem and it was way too thick.) Run a zig zag stitch along the top edge to cut down on the fraying.

We a gathering stitch along this top edge about 1/4″ from the top. Pull up the threads to gather. Pin the gathers to a WRONG edge of the 24″ waist band strip, pinning 1″ from the edge of the strip on both sides. Sew along the gathering stitch.

Press the other edge of the waist band under a generous 1/4″, then fold it over to the front to cover the gathering stitch. Top stitch to secure, leaving the edges open. Take those ends and fold them in 1/2″. Tuck the ends of the ties in the side openings and sew where the pin is in the photo below:

Apron is finished! I love, it’s the cutest ever!!!

To make the table runner, you need about 5 minutes! Cut the toweling to the desired length of your table. Hem the edges by rolling under 1/2″ then another 1/2″. Sew to secure.

Cut the fish and circles using the Sizzix Fabi with Ultra Hold. Then Iron the fish and bubbles in place! This project is great because it adds a nice pop of color and doesn’t take much time at all!!

In celebration of Earth Day, today, I thought I would share this fast and fun tutorial for a whale bookmark using the Sizzix Whale Die. I have loved whales my whole life. I remember as a little girl saving up my money to buy a $5 gold colored whale necklace; I was so excited because a portion of the money would go to the “Save the Whales” fund.

Draw an angle in the upper corners to form the shape of a tag. Notice where I positioned my lines in comparison to the grid:

Iron the fusible fleece to one of the aqua pieces on the wrong side. Plaace right sides of the bookmark pieces together. Sew around the bookmark,using a generous 1/4″ seam. Leave an opening along the side for turning. Trim the edges close to the seam and clip corners. Turn right side out, press. Top stitch.

For the whale and heart appliqué pieces, iron the Heat n Bond Lite to the wrong side of the gray fabric. Cut out a rectangle roughly the size of the Sizzix Whale Die. Run it through the Big Shot or Fabi Machine. For the heart, I cut it freehand. Peel the backing paper off.Position the appliqué pieces as desired. Iron in place. Top stitch around the whale and the hart.

When you are finished, add a grommet or eyelet and tie ribbons through it.